Exhibition Status: Past

From the Fire

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From The Fire: Contemporary Korean Ceramics

“These pieces represent the finest and most honored work in modern Korean ceramics… [T]he first show of its kind in the West.”

— Diane Weddington, Oakland Tribune

“Visitors will find themselves surrounded by stunning examples of exquisite craftsmanship, varied techniques and artistic visions. With such an abundance of riches, it’s difficult to know where to stand.”

— Christopher A. Yates, The Columbus Dispatch

In celebration of the one-hundredth anniversary of Korean immigration to the United States, From the Fire: Contemporary Korean Ceramics showcased new works by artists from Korea. A majority of the pieces were created in 2003 exclusively for the exhibition, presenting a diverse array of over 90 ceramic pieces by 54 artists. The artists in the exhibition range in age from 30 to 80 years old and come from many regions and schools, effectively highlighting the distinct trends in the development of contemporary Korean ceramics. The works demonstrate how traditional techniques are combined with contemporary influences to express new ideas. From the Fire marks the first time a Korean curator has selected contemporary ceramic works by Korean artists for exhibition in North America.

The curator, Ms. Cho Chung Hyun, is a ceramic artist and professor at the College of Art, Ewha Womans University, in Seoul, Korea. Most of the 54 artists in the exhibition donated select works to venues on the national tour. A fully-illustrated exhibition catalogue was produced for the exhibition.

Forbidden Art

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Forbidden Art: The Postwar Russian Avant-Garde

“This ambitious show, with its careful attention to trends and movements and its exposure of the whole gamut of postwar Soviet art, adds up to a surprisingly rich survey.”

– Grace Glueck, The New York Times  

“It’s one of the best collections in the world of Russian art.”

– Aleksander Borosky, curator, Russian State Museum in St. Petersburg

Forbidden Art: The Postwar Russian Avant-Garde was an exhibition that explored a fascinating period in Russian art history, when artists boldly defied aesthetic conventions imposed by state censorship.

Comprising works of painting, photography, and sculpture from the collection of Yuri Traisman, a Russian émigré, Forbidden Art dispels the notion that Russia was artistically infertile under the repressive rule of the Stalinist state. Traisman built his collection over the course of nearly 30 years, and his dedicated research into Russian artists who, in the spirit of creative freedom, defied the aesthetic restrictions imposed by Stalin and his successors, illuminates the social and artistic rebellion of a suppressed people and culture.

Abstract and metaphoric artworks critique the Russian media as well as the pervasive effects of Social Realist ideology upon daily life during the Cold War. In a daring fight for artistic freedom, now referred to as the “second Russian Avant-Garde movement,” Soviet artists of many backgrounds—the Reform, Radical and Leningrad schools; Sots art; Moscow conceptualism; and more—were able to adopt and transform existing avant-garde traditions to express their artistic and political will.

This exhibition featured works by Grisha Bruskin, Dmitrii Krasnopevtsev, Natalia Nestervoa, Boris Orlov, Alexandr Rodchenko, Vadim Sidur, and Vladimir Stenberg.

Frank Lloyd Wright and the House Beautiful

Frank Lloyd Wright and the House Beautiful

“Turning away from traditional European models of homes and their furnishings, this bold yet practical visionary developed a truly American style of architecture, creating a harmony of house and nature by attuning a dwelling to its surrounding landscape.”

– Grace Glueck, New York Times

“By playing down the drama of Wright’s life and focusing on his material contributions, the exhibition succeeds in explaining how he could produce some of the most comforting and soulful houses ever built.”

– Juanita Dugdale, Art New England

During his remarkably prolific 70-year career, Frank Lloyd Wright was committed not only to the development of a truly American style of architecture but also to the creation of furnishings and accessories that were both functional and beautiful, to enhance the surroundings in his revolutionary spaces. Frank Lloyd Wright and the House Beautifulpresented his passion for creating a new way of life for Americans through architecture. In particular, the exhibition focused on his skill in creating harmony between architectural structure and interior design while fulfilling the needs of a modern, American lifestyle. The exhibition presented more than 100 original objects, including furniture, metalwork, textiles, original drawings, publications, and accessories from the collection of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and other public and private collections.

The exhibition was divided into three themes that embodied the philosophy and methods of the “house beautiful.” First, the exhibition revealed how Wright sought to develop a modern interior reflective of a uniquely American spirit of democracy and individual freedom. Next, the exhibition tracked his development in integrating the space with furnishings and archi­tectural elements; lastly, it documented his efforts to incorporate these ideas into the homes of average Americans. Each section of the exhibition included wall panels of period and contem­porary photographs of Wright interiors, to provide the context for the original objects on view.

This exhibition was curated by Virginia T. Boyd, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Textiles and Design program. The exhibition tour was organized by International Arts & Artists in cooperation with The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, AZ, USA. A fully illustrated catalogue was produced for this tour.

Intent to Deceive

fake forgeries in art world

Intent to Deceive: Fakes and Forgeries in the Art World

“The exhibition looks at five of the most notorious forgers or fakers of the last 100 years, their methods, their personalities and their downfalls.”

– Elaine Warner, Edmondsun.com

 

“The arrangement encourages visitors to try their eyes at determining which is the verified original and which the top-notch phony, as well as introducing them to a fascinating underworld of names that—had everything gone as planned—no one would have known.”

– Steve Gill, Slice

This groundbreaking exhibition spotlighted some of the world’s most notorious con-artists, illuminating their dubious legacies and examining how—by way of talent, charm, and audacity—they managed to beguile and assault the art world for much of the 20th century, right up to the present day.

Several ingenious forgers were profiled in this exhibition of over 60 works of art, representing some of the most infamous art scandals of the last century. Han van Meegeren, Elmyr de Hory, and Eric Hebborn all shook the art world with their exploits, garnering them worldwide notoriety but also—for each—untimely death. More recently, John Myatt and Mark Landis have been in the news for their prolific and stylistically diverse art frauds, landing one in jail. Intent to Deceive provides a fascinating look into the psyche of those geniuses who did not choose, or were incapable of choosing, to pursue a legitimate artistic career.

Included with each forger’s profile was a sampling of their original works, along with personal effects, ephemera, photographs, film clips, and representations of the materials and techniques they used to create these convincing artworks. Of particular interest were the accounts of how art experts were able to use new technologies to unveil their fraudulence.

Original works by renowned artists such as Charles Courtney Curran, Honoré Daumier, Raoul Dufy, Philip de Lászlό, Henri Matisse, Joan Mirό, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Paul Signac, Maurice de Vlaminck and others were juxtaposed with the art of the world’s most accomplished art forgers to test perceptions of authenticity.

The ultimate question posed by Intent to Deceive is whether the revelation of a painting’s unsavory history actually makes it any less of a work of art. Does the discovery of a fake change our relationship with a painting? Admirers and collectors of the work of several contemporary forgers maintain that they possess great art, no matter that they are forgeries. The fakery of these works is often brilliant in itself, and indeed, their murky histories make them all the more interesting, since they add stories and drama that are as fascinating as the images on their canvases.

This exhibition was organized by International Arts & Artists and curated by Colette Loll. For more information on this project, please go to http://www.intenttodeceive.org/

Passionate Observer

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Passionate Observer: Eudora Welty among Artists of the Thirties

“Photography taught me that to be able to capture transience, by being ready to click the shutter at the crucial moment, was the greatest need I had.”

— Eudora Welty

“[A] stirring and deeply personal glimpse into the lives of everyday people struggling to maintain dignity and courage in the face of one of the greatest catastrophes to hit America.”

— AAA Southern Traveler

A compassionate observer of the world as well as a passionate image-maker, Eudora Welty was a visual artist who used the camera with the same poetic facility as she used language as a writer. While Welty felt her primary medium was language, she continued to use a camera until 1950, when she left her Rolleiflex on a bench in the Paris Metro and, out of anger at her own carelessness, did not replace it.

This provocative exhibition developed by the Mississippi Museum of Art comprises over 100 works—all by notable American artists of the 1930s—including photographs, paintings, drawings, and prints.  At the center are Eudora Welty’s dramatic Depression-era photographs of Mississippi, Louisiana, and New York. Welty’s photographs from the thirties are placed alongside works by the artists Edward Hopper and Thomas Hart Benton; photographers Walker Evans, Berenice Abbott, Ben Shahn, Margaret Bourke-White, Arthur Rothstein, Marion Post Wolcott, and Dorothea Lange; and the Southern artists Walter Anderson, William Hollingsworth, Marie Hull, and Karl Wolfe. This juxtaposition opens an eloquent dialogue between Welty’s artistic motivation and the visual interpretations of other artists from this period.

Endangered Treasures

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Endangered Treasures: Our Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

“‘Endangered Treasures’ allows viewers to envision the grandeur of a land that remains one of the last areas of virgin wilderness in the United States.”

– Anna Gawel, The Washington Diplomat

“Humanity needs a sense of horizons unexplored, the mystery of pristine lands.”

– Tom Walker, Photographer

Eight internationally recognized photographers—Subhankar Banerjee, Gary Braasch, Amy Gulick, Thomas Mangelsen, Tom Walker, Kennan Ward, Ken Whitten, and Art Wolfe—trained their lenses on the exquisite beauty of the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, America’s largest ecological sanctuary.

Sometimes called “America’s Serengeti,” the Refuge is home to at least 45 species of mammals, including polar bears, lynxes, caribou, foxes, wolves, porcupine, grizzly bears, and the last remaining musk oxen. Bowhead whales, seals, and other sea mammals roam the cold coastal waters, and the Refuge’s fertile coastal plain—the biological heart of this 19-million-acre expanse of rugged wilderness—is most famous for the seasonal massing of 130,000 Porcupine River caribou, who for 20,000 years have migrated from the Klondike and the Alaskan interior to this unique corner of the world to give birth in a habitat rich with nutritious plant life.

This exhibition of more than 50 photographs highlighted the landscapes, wildlife, and flora native to this remote arctic wilderness. Sponsored in part by the Sierra Club, the exhibition is a celebration of the copious natural beauty and diversity of life in this northwestern pocket of Alaska, and an important documentation of our endangered national treasure.

Color in Freedom

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Color in Freedom: Journey along the Underground Railroad

“‘Color in Freedom’ captures the majestic familiarity of Africa, the horror of enslavement, the drudgery of  slavery and the courage of escape.”

– Michelle J. Nealy, Diverse, March 23, 2009

“The pieces aren’t just visually beautiful, they tell a very important story as well.”

– Mary Hartsharn, Pensacola Museum of Art

The stories of the Underground Railroad are some of the most powerful in American history. Color in Freedom: Journey along the Underground Railroad is an exhibition of 49 paintings, etchings, and drawings by Joseph Holston that evoke the courage and tenacity of slaves determined to escape to freedom. The exhibition consists of four movements that track the flow of events in the lives of those who traveled the Underground Railroad:

  • The Unknown World
  • Living in Bondage
  • The Journey of Escape
  • Color in Freedom

Painter and printmaker Joseph Holston is best known for his use of vivid color, abstracted forms, and expressive lines. His work, which consistently garners critical praise, can be seen in numerous significant public and private collections. The exhibition Color in Freedom is organized by the Arts Program of the University of Maryland University College. An accompanying educational component consists of an integrated multi-disciplinary package, which includes a virtual exhibition tour to be used in various classroom settings, as well as integrated lesson plans for specific disciplines as they relate to the virtual exhibition, such as: artistic interpretation of a historic event; artistic technique and style, including color and form; and cultural and social significance.

A 96-page, full–color exhibition catalogue published by Pomegranate Communications, Inc., is available for purchase directly from the publisher.

The Dutch Italianates

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The Dutch Italianates: 17th Century Masterpieces from Dulwich Picture Gallery, London

“For many, this view of the Italian landscape seen through Dutch eyes will be a revelation, allowing the visitor to see some of the most beautiful paintings of the 17th century.”

– Kurt Shaw, Pittsburgh Tribune Review

“Hotly collected and widely revered, these brilliant 17th-century artists—known as the Dutch Italianates—mixed the warm light, scenery and people of the Italian countryside with a keen, definitively Northern eye for detail and the ability to manipulate paint like few others.”

– Mark St. John Erickson, Daily Press

The Dutch Italianates: Seventeenth-Century Masterpieces from the Dulwich Picture Gallery, Londonthrows a spotlight on a remarkable but little-seen genre: Italian landscapes of the 17th century as seen through the eyes of some of the most accomplished Dutch artists of the Golden Age. The exhibition features a group of 40 paintings from a collection formed for a king, highlighting masterpieces by Aelbert Cuyp, Nicolaes Berchem, Karel Dujardin, Philips Wouwermans, and Adam Pynacker. These artists were at the height of their powers and reputation, and their groundbreaking work profoundly influenced the 18th century French and English aesthetic, and even carried over to 19th century America.

 

Unlike most of the foreign painters who flocked to Italy in the 17th century, the Dutch Italianates developed their own, hybrid style of picturesque landscape art. Their works, which combined Italian light, landscapes, and marble ruins with closely observed peasant life of the sort favored by artists of the Dutch Golden Age, were absolutely unique and turned out to be wildly influential. For the burgeoning middle class of 17th century Holland—which had just begun to expand its global reach—bucolic scenes of the sun-dappled Roman campagna and hills were an ideal respite from the flat, windswept, often cloudy vistas of their own country. For almost two centuries, Dutch Italianate landscapes were among the most celebrated and widely collected in the genre, both in Europe and America.

 

This exhibition offers an exceptional opportunity to view masterworks from the world-class collection of the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, a collection formed originally for a king (Stanislaus Augustus, the last king of Poland) that has been called the best small museum in all of Europe.

Albrecht Dürer

ALBRECHT DÜRER: ART IN TRANSITION

Albrecht Dürer: Art in Transition

“Sex, violence and pageantry; tragedy, comedy and cosmic vision: Dürer made all this and more visible with a grasp of pictorial space and composition that is as powerfully muscular as it is delicately intimate.”

– Ken Johnson, The New York Times

“The retrospective exhibit, a stupendous gathering of 106 of the artist’s prints…explores only one facet of Dürer’s genius—printmaking. And it is a knockout.”

– Lance Esplund, The New York Sun

Dürer is considered the foremost German artist of the Renaissance era, and the greatest master of the printed image besides Rembrandt. His wide-ranging, surprisingly modern intellect encompassed many interests—science, philosophy, alchemy, nature study, mysticism and the visionary—all of which animated his unprecedented use of the new technologies of graphic arts. His exquisitely detailed and original works (woodcuts, engravings, etchings, and drypoint), which could be reproduced en masse and disseminated widely, sought not only to please the eye but to make the religious and philosophical debates of the time accessible to a broad public.

This magnificent exhibition offers an exclusive look at the artist’s innovative interpretations of 16th century Christianity and examines his unique position as a transitional figure between Gothic naturalism and Italian humanism. The collection is drawn from the renowned Hessisches Landesmuseum (Hessian State Museum), Darmstadt, Germany, and comprises 100 examples of Dürer’s woodcuts, etchings, and engravings. This exhibition is organized by the Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, and toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, D.C. The exhibition is curated by Dr. Mechthild Haas, graphics curator at the Hessisches Landesmuseum.

Dance Theatre of Harlem

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Dance Theatre of Harlem: 40 Years of Firsts

“one of ballet’s most exciting undertakings”

– The New York Times, 1971

“As a young girl, I dreamed of being a ballet dancer, but was told I couldn’t do it because I was black. I feel very fortunate and thrilled that I can pass this art form along to the next generation of dancers.”

–  Virginia Johnson, Artistic Director, Dance Theatre of Harlem

Highlighting Dance Theatre of Harlem’s 40-plus year history, this magnificent exhibition celebrates the history and art of dance with 25 costumes and accessories, set pieces, documentary video excerpts, historical photographs and tour posters; and includes four dramatically-staged ballets that are iconic to the company: A Streetcar Named Desire, Creole Giselle, Dougla, and Firebird. Dispelling the belief that ballet could not be performed by those of African descent, Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook founded the Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1969. It has since grown into a multi-cultural dance institution.

The exhibition comes with customized costume forms and backdrops for the four staged ballets. Banners are long and can be mounted to a wall, or will require tall ceilings to hang in open air space.

In the last 45 years, the professional touring company of Dance Theatre of Harlem has performed in 44 states, 250 cities in North America, and in 40 countries on 6 continents.